The performances of heterogeneous catalysts can be effectively improved by optimizing the catalysts via appropriate structure design. Herein, we show that the catalysis of cuprous sulfide can be boosted by constructing the hybrid structure with Cu₂S nanoparticles on amorphous CuS_x matrix (Cu₂S/CuS_x). In the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction under visible light irradiation, the Cu₂S/CuS_x exhibited a CO production rate at 4.0 µmol h⁻¹ that is 12-fold higher than that of the general Cu₂S catalyst. Further characterizations reveal that the Cu₂S/CuS_x has two reaction systems that realize the biomimetic catalysis, involving in the light reaction on the Cu₂S nanoparticle–CuS_x matrix heterojunctions for proton/electron production, and the dark reaction on the defect-rich CuS_x for CO₂ reduction. The CuS_x matrix could efficiently activate CO₂ and stabilize the split hydrogen species to hinder undesired hydrogen evolution reaction, which benefits the proton–electron transfer to reduce CO₂, a key step for bridging the two reaction systems.

通过适当的结构设计优化催化剂，可以有效提高多相催化剂的性能。在此，我们表明通过在无定形 CuS _x基质（Cu ₂ S/CuS _x）上构建具有 Cu ₂ S 纳米颗粒的混合结构可以增强硫化亚铜的催化作用。在可见光照射下的光催化CO ₂还原中，Cu ₂ S/CuS _x表现出4.0 µmol h ^-1的CO 产率，是一般Cu ₂ S 催化剂的12 倍。进一步的表征表明，Cu ₂ S/CuS _x具有实现仿生催化的两个反应系统，涉及用于产生质子/电子的Cu ₂ S纳米颗粒-CuS _x基质异质结的光反应和用于CO ₂还原的富含缺陷的CuS _x的暗反应。CuS _x基质可以有效地激活 CO ₂并稳定分裂的氢物种以阻止不希望的析氢反应，这有利于质子-电子转移以减少 CO ₂，这是桥接两个反应系统的关键步骤。